Bulletproof One may use allowance as springboard to BC Turf Sprint

DEL MAR, Calif. - Bulletproof One has been so sharp in turf sprints in recent years that trainer Peter Miller is entertaining the Breeders’ Cup Turf Sprint at Del Mar in November as an option.

On Thursday at Del Mar, Bulletproof One will have her second start of 2021 in an allowance race at five furlongs on turf. Bulletproof One has conditions in her favor – an outside post for a 4-year-old filly with ample speed.

“She should be tough,” Miller said. “We’ll have speed and the outside post. We have a great speed rider in Ricky Gonzalez. No excuses.

“We’re looking forward. If she wins this in the right way, we could be looking toward the Breeders’ Cup Turf Sprint. Five-eighths on turf is her jam.”

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Owned by Gary Barber and the Eclipse Thoroughbred Partners syndicate, Bulletproof One was third in the Daisycutter Handicap at five furlongs on turf here on July 25, her first start in 10 months. Bulletproof One set the pace, led by two lengths with a furlong remaining, and finished 1 1/2 lengths behind Superstition.

“She needed that first race,” Miller said.

Last year, Bulletproof One won 4 of 8 starts, including the Unzip Me Stakes for 3-year-old fillies at 5 1/2 furlongs on turf at Santa Anita last September. In the near future, Bulletproof One must show improvement to merit a spot in the BC Turf Sprint, which often draws a full field. A three-time stakes winner, Bulletproof One has won 7 of 15 starts, but has not started in a graded stakes.

Bulletproof One will be closely tracked by the stakes winners Hear My Prayer and Raymundos Secret.

Hear My Prayer will have her California debut Thursday after a successful nine-race campaign in Florida that included two minor stakes wins in five-furlong turf races at Gulfstream Park.

The allowance race will be Hear My Prayer’s first start since a third in the Ladies’ Turf Sprint Stakes on Feb. 6, which was transferred to a sloppy and sealed track because of wet conditions. Trained in Florida by David Fisher, Hear My Prayer won the Abundantia Stakes at five furlongs on turf at Gulfstream Park last January.

“Her stakes win was impressive,” current trainer Vladimir Cerin said. “In the slop, she needed time to recover, but she’s doing super.”

David and Holly Wilson acquired Hear My Prayer since her last start. A 4-year-old filly, Hear My Prayer has had five workouts since late July for her comeback.

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“She’s had three pretty good five-eighths and galloped out three-quarters in 1:12,” Cerin said. “I think she’s about 90 percent ready. She looks like a runner.”

Raymundos Secret won the Grade 2 John Mabee Stakes at 1 1/8 miles on turf here last September, but is winless in three subsequent starts. She was last of nine in the Grade 2 Yellow Ribbon Handicap at 1 1/16 miles on turf on Aug. 7 in her first start since April.

This will be Raymundos Secret's 11th start and the shortest race of her career.

“We’re just experimenting,” trainer Phil D’Amato said. “We have to see what our options are.”